Microsoft Root Certificate Program Members

07/21/2008

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Updated February 2005

Microsoft® maintains a list of trusted third-party commercial certificate authorities to enable secure and usable e-commerce for Microsoft® Windows® users. These certificate authorities validate the identity and entitlement of an applicant, and as an output of this process, issue the applicant a digital certificate.

Digital certificates can be used to prove the identity of a remote person or resource, since not all certificate authorities follow the same operational practices. Microsoft uses an independent third-party audit (WebTrust for Certificate Authorities) along with other technical requirements to ensure our customers are have access to trustworthy CAs.

For information on Microsoft Root Certificate Program requirements, see the Microsoft TechNet Web site.